DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A late battle for the lead between Jimmie Johnson and Marcos Ambrose not only ruined Ambrose’s chances for victory in the Coke Zero 400 but also ruined the hopes of Johnson teammate Kasey Kahne.

While Johnson went on to win the race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, Ambrose summed up the crash that ensued this way: “It’s OK. It’s plate racing.”

The accident occurred when Ambrose, who was behind leader Johnson in the outside lane, tried to shoot the middle gap between him and Kahne with four laps remaining. It appeared that Johnson and Ambrose bumped, knocking Ambrose into Kahne and sending Kahne on a long slide into the inside wall.

While Ambrose could continue after pitting for repairs to his left front fender, Kahne was scrambling to get out of his mangled racecar after a hard hit with the inside wall.

“(Johnson) got a little loose and I split him and I got beside him and he came down and he just sandwiched me against the 5 (of Kahne),” Ambrose said.

“It sent the 5 around. I was able to stay straight. I had a straight wheel but it just pushed down the fender and I had to come in.”

Kahne said he wasn’t sure what happened.

“I didn’t see any of it,” he said.

Johnson said he didn’t believe he and Ambrose actually touched, although it appeared on video there was some contact.

“As we came off of Turn 2, the 9 (of Ambrose) went shooting down below me and I don’t know where the 5 was or what happened,” Johnson said. “The 9 made a strong move to get inside of me and all I saw was the 9 inside of me, so I assume he at some point or someone got into the 5 and sent him for a ride.

“I didn’t feel anything there.”

Both Ambrose and Kahne have had frustrating seasons while Johnson celebrated his fourth victory.

Ambrose, who also was involved in a last-lap crash with Carl Edwards, finished 26th and remained 22nd in the standings while Kahne finished 32nd and dropped a spot to 12th in the standings, nine points outside the top 10.

“I was about to get the lead off of (Turn) 2 and it just didn’t quite work out,” Ambrose said. “If we didn’t rub the tire down, we would have had the lead.

“It was a shame for us, but it was a good night. We were at the front all night. I drove hard. I’m proud of the effort. We’ll go get them next week.”

Kahne and Johnson appeared as if they might work together at the end of the race until Johnson went up to block a late surge on the outside by Ambrose.

“I tried to stay with Jimmie a lot throughout the race and we worked really well together and he went up to block the outside groove (where Ambrose was), which is right,” Kahne said. “So I ended up having a shot at the lead and maybe a shot at the win.

“I felt really good. It just didn’t work out.”

It was Kahne’s third race this year where he did not finish. He has been involved in wrecks in all three restrictor-plate races.

“It’s frustrating,” Kahne said. “I’m somewhat used to it this year. I’ve hit a lot of walls this year. I don’t know. It’s the way it goes.

“These tracks can be tough and things can happen that you don’t have any control over.”